Like I said; still more harm. It may not be very many people who does it (even though I know quite a few alone), but if you expect a great push in sales by making 7 player local multiplayer possible and that cover up the lost systems/software sold, then that's an argument coming from Gilgamesh's brother.

Mario Kart Wii was used as an example where the number of players are very limited on one console, thus encouraging people to buy systems and software for themselves instead of sharing. And this will be way more widespread if Wii U actually get some "hardcore" games/gamers onboard. Sure, they could limit this 7-player multiplayer thingy for casual games like Mario Party, but then all the others would want the same thing.

Whatever you do; don't get me wrong. I'd love to play Super Smash and other games with more than 4-players, but for Nintendo's sake I hope they skip it.

There's a difference between sitting 7 and having all 7 of them have a clear view of the TV...

That's one side of the coin, but the Wii is special: The word of mouth does not apply to motion controls as it's something that they have to try out to fully enjoy.

You can't compare download play to split-screen as it means that all players involved already owns a 3/DS, and then will want to be able to play the game at home, possibly with his/her friend through the internet. Playing split-screen on the other hand let everyone share the same hardware, which is the true money maker for Nintendo. I remember from my own experience how I never bought a Playstation since I could go to my friend's house anyway, and even more people came home to me to play Nintendo 64 and Gamecube since they didn't own one themselves.

The one-save-file policy does actually push sales in cases like Mario Kart 7. Me and my brother used to share the same cartridge but using my username and knowing that all progress made where going straight to me, he felt a need to get his own copy of the game. Had there been several save files he might as well just kept sharing it with me.

If any console pulls of massive multiplayer on one box, it will be sony lol. Think about, 6 players on screen as you suggested. Now picture everyone wearing those 3d glasses that allow you to see only a certain screen thing. Now 12 people could play. Add in Sony's eventual wiiu controller copy/ innovated version. Now you have 13 players. Heck, Sony may even support 2 controllers so add that up to 14 players. If more than 14 players fit in your living room, purchasing another system shouldn't be a problem for your socioeconomic group. Not to mention vita potentially getting in on the action.

I nearly died laughing at 14 players, and then Vita came up out of nowhere!

The big money is in the hardware because I'm pretty certain few people only buy one single software for it. How is that not clear?

I said that comparing the download play to splitscreen makes no sense since it means you've already bought a system (and thus will likely buy several titles for it), while splitscreen gives gamers a reason not to buy the console altogether. That's where my personal experiences enter the picture. I never assumed that those experiences are equal to most people, but a substantial part.

This is not about splitscreen hurting single game's sales, but stopping potential console buyers.

One note you didn't touch was the one tablet controller or two. That's what I was actually hoping this thread would be about.... Nintendo needs to fix their last E3 and state that it will at least work with two tablet controllers... hopefully more.

Hmm, interesting idea. I think the Wii already was very successful on multiplayer. I have sometimes friends at my place and we play Wii Sports/Resort, Raving Rabbids, Wii Play, Smash Brothers or Mario Kart. That already works well for Nintendo. They would be crazy giving up on this. I'm not against supporting more local players, but I don't think it would be needed often. Yes, Smash Brothers with six would be very cool. But reality is, I don't think most people get together six friends at once. I have a hard time coordinating my regular movie-evening, scheduling different people. Although over time I have around ten people participating, there were never more than four at one time. So increasing possibilities for local multiplayer is great, but I don't believe in a much bigger potential, than 4 player games.

Mixing local multiplayer and online would be a good option though.

Maybe 6 players on the same screen is a bit of a stretch but, assuming the WiiU could manage 2 tablet controllers at the same time, you could still have 6 player split-screen: 4 on TV, 2 on tablets.
It would actually be a great opportunity to explore new multiplayer concepts.